this. chris: what does it mean if you have a meltdown of a nuclear core? the worst case scenario is that the fuel rods fuse together. temperatures get so hot they melt together into a radioactive molten mass that bursts through the con containment mechanism and exposed to the outside. they spew radio activity in the ground and air and water and some could carry in the atmosphere to the west coast of the united states. thousands of miles across the pacific? sleuth. chair charon elbow, it spread around the entire atmosphere. you talk about the possibility of a huge exposure, the japanese officials evacuated people 12 miles from these plants. is that far enough? not under a meltdown scenario. you ve seen the evacuation radiuses extend as the crisis
shannon: with the threat of multiple meltdowns looming in japan, theories context. japanese has a total of 55 reactorrers in 17 complexes nationwide that provide 20% of the country s electricity. japan has declared a state of emergency at another plant. radio activity at the own go portland is being investigatedded. with no power, authorities have resorted to injecting sea water into it to cool it down. just as they had to do yesterday to unit 1. a completely meltdown would occur if the power plant lost all ability to keep temperatures under control and release uranium and contaminants and pose widespread health risks. we re keeping an eye on it.
time. they managed to recover it. they re replating that. generating steam, putting more water in and trying to keep the plant stabilized. that takes some effort and i ll be clear. that is a real problem and they re going to have to manage that for a prolonged period of time as those as those rods need to be have heat and decay removed from them. the fact that there is i m sorry. finish your thought and i ll ask a question. go ahead. the fact that they re going to have to vent that building, they re venting through hepa filters. that releases the air particulates that get caught up so they re just venting steam and air and there is going to be a residual amount of radio activity that is going to be vented and they note that is very low on the site boundary. so therefore it gets lower and lower the further you get away.
the worst case scenario is the fuel rods fuse together, the temperatures go hot and melt together into a radioactive molten mass that bursts through the containment and is exposed to the outside. so there s radio activity in the ground, air and water and some of that could carry in the atmosphere to the west coast of the united states. the united states has nuclear reactors and earthquakes but the u.s. nuclear nuclear regulatory commission say when nuclear power plants are built they take into account the severe natural disasters for the site. jack spencer told my aside from our strict regulations, midwestern industries have so much invested they would not let their guard down and what s happening in japan is not likely to ever happen here.
it wouldn t look all that different from what we have now. a more extreme case and i emphasize this is only one of a number of possible outcomes, the worst possible case would be core meltdown coupled with significant release of radio activity into the environment. japan can evacuate people from around the plant but any large injection of radio activity into the environment is damaging because of its long-term effects on human health. all right, james, stay with us. we will have more on this disaster in japan when we come back. the motorola xoom tablet.